


Heart and Soul, The Way A Fool Would Do [I Fell In Love With You]

by glenien



Category: Merlin (TV), Merlin (TV) RPF
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-01-27
Updated: 2013-01-27
Packaged: 2017-11-27 04:07:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,197
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/657878
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/glenien/pseuds/glenien
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The celebrations after NTA takes an unexpected turn for Bradley. <i>Yeah, unexpected, shut up Katie.</i></p>
            </blockquote>





	Heart and Soul, The Way A Fool Would Do [I Fell In Love With You]

**Author's Note:**

> **Warnings:** Spoilers for 5x13 and oh, er- kinda non-Auish maybe? Don’t hate me.  
>  **Rating:** R  
>  **Pairing:** Colin/Bradley  
>  **Words:** 3222  
>  **Date:** 26.01.13  
>  **Author Notes:** Betaed by the lovely [thepardus](https://twitter.com/thepardus) AND the charming [gatepromise](http://gatepromise.livejournal.com/)

** Heart and Soul, The Way A Fool Would Do [I Fell In Love With You] **

**♫ LMFAO – PARTY ROCK ANTHEM**

Colin doesn’t remember any of his speech- or what he may have said or did in the interviews afterwards –he has a horrible intuition that at some point he may have hinted that he’ll be using his award as a magical dildo or for something even worse- but he remembers people from the cast and the crew running at him and congratulating him, enthusiastic handshakes raining all over the place, he recalls being almost choked by Eoin’s arm and Rupert’s beating his back to death but what he registers in his mind’s eye clear as day, is a pair of crazy blue eyes shining feverishly right in front of him and Bradley’s scream bursting at his ear, “ _YOU FUCKING NAILED IT!!”_ Colin is certain that his face is stretched permanently into a grin. They leave the official party pretty quickly- Eoin very reasonably claims it’s bad manners to puke on red carpet. His and Bradley’s flat is cramped with people and Colin has his eighth drink and maybe a couple of more- his mom calls crying on the phone- “ _We are so proud of you, baby- I wish we could have been there-” “Don’t worry, Mrs. Morgan we’ll take care of him,”_ replies Bradley on the phone to his mum, to his _MUM_ and then he is talking to Angel who is sobbing all over the phone, _“I knew it, I knew it, I voted a thousand times you don’t even know! Wait when Katie-”_ then it’s Katie, yeah, she arrives shrieking whale noises and hugging him and almost braining Alex with her half closed suitcase, and Bradley’s arm is at his neck and his hand is at his chest, he is explaining to everyone inside the thirty-mile zone radius for the hundred and twentieth time how proud he is of Colin and how much he deserved it. Sometimes Colin has doubts about himself and about choosing the right path by becoming an actor, but this night is not one of them. Tonight, he is at the top of the world. 

***

Katie winces around her sip of water. “Oh god, please turn it down a bit.”

Eoin makes a feeble attempt to grab the remote from where he lain it down on the couch, bare feet kicking and dislocating a disgruntled Rupert and Alex in the effort, but a minute later the bass sound of techno music is down to minimum. Everyone sighs in relief except Tom- he is already snoring at the armchair. He still has the chip plate at his arms, holding it securely. It’s a talent, really.

Katie blinks and looks around. Rupert’s yawning with blood shot eyes and Eoin seems determined to bury himself in his pillow. His ugly yellow tie is still soaking in the beer pint. Alex looks surprisingly bright for a person who is wearing only his vest for a shirt. He continues to chow down on the chips from Tom's plate and a bit of leftover popcorn from his own bowl, still on the floor where he fell earlier. The award is on the coffee table with Colin’s bowtie and Merlin action figure on top of it.

“Where is Colin?” Katie asks.

An intense television watcher Alex and a miserable Rupert point to the kitchen. There is a glass door there which separates the kitchen from the small terrace outside, and there sits Colin with Bradley, the two of them talking and smiling at each other.

“Gosh,” sighs Katie, “Oh those two. Oh just- just look at them…” She prods Eoin insistently, “Just look at it, come on!”

“Nope,” Eoin shakes his head, “Not gonna play your dirty games, McGrath.”

“Oh come on!” Katie huffs, “What do _you_ know-“ 

Eoin snorts. 

Katie gasps. 

“Uh-oh,” murmurs Rupert.

“What was _that?_ Did you just _snort? Did you just snort at me,_ Macken?” Katie’s eyes grow huge. “You _know_ something?”

“Nope,” Eoin sits up and grabs a new beer, “Don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Eoin. _Christopher. Macken_. Spill it. Spill IT NOW.”

Eoin takes a healthy gulp from his bottle. “Nothing worthy to break my fragile trust with the Englishmen.”

Katie snorts. “Oh, c’mon! We’re all Irish here!”

“Um?...” Rupert’s eyebrows and right hand moves up.

“Uh- I’m not exactly-“ starts Vlahos.

“Oh, shut up you two,” Katie chastises, “Come on, Eoin. You’ve been his flatmate for a while now- if there is anything in here, you are the one to know it.”

Eoin scratches his cheek, “Look, I don’t want to meddle in okay-“ 

Rupert and Alex start grinning. “How _dare_ you,” Katie gasps, “We are their _friends_. Do you know what I’ve been through for the last _five_ years?”

Eoin smirks. “Exactly. You’ve known them longer. Congratulations.”

“Look, Macken. I’m a _girl_ , okay.” Katie rolls her eyes when Alex starts giggling. “And because of that, my guy friends don’t tell me _everything_ for some reason. _Not that I care_. At all. Really. Because if ANY of you shared a guy crush with ME I would have been _delighted_ …”

“Oh god,” moans Rupert, “Eoin, please- stop her, tell her what she wants.”

“But _whatever_ ,” Katie throws her hair back. It’s quite intimidating. “It’s not like I don’t have evidence or pictures or anything that you guys don’t want to come off. I’m sure your fanbase would be thrilled to learn more about you.”

“Woah, woah,” Rupert sits up, “Let’s all calm down in here!”

Tom wakes up with a snort, knocking the plate all over into Alex. “Wha- what did I miss? Oh sorry Alex-”

“Whatever woman, I have my ass all over the internet- you can’t scare me-”

“Really, Macken, really- do you think I have nudies of you?”

Macken pauses. “Yeah, I do actually.”

Katie blushes a bit. “That’s not the point. Think again.”

Tom looks both them, then points at Katie, “Oh- you don’t mean…”

“ _Yeah_ ,” says Katie victoriously.

“No WAY. The thing- _with the_ -”

“ _Uh, uh_.”

“You can’t mean _the thing with the_ \- Macken, you have to tell her!” panicks Rupert.

Alex blinks, “What are you guys talking about? You all did porn or something?”

Tom, Rupert and Eoin fall silent. 

“O-kay, awk-ward.”

“It wasn’t porn, okay!” Tom bursts out. “It was… some outtakes.”

“From a _gay magazine_ ,” insists Katie.

“How did you manage to save them?” Eoin growls at her.

“I have friends in high places,” grins Katie, “Tell me everything.”

Rupert and Tom both elbow Eoin, who sighs, “Look. I’m not saying... I mean come on, we are guys. Guys don’t talk about these things- especially not to their fellow colleagues… for whom they may or may not have hots.”

“Omigod I knew it!” Katie shrieks, “Oh god, oh god, all my RPS feelings are coming back!” 

Rupert swallows, “Katie, you are scaring us with your weird fan talk again.”

“Oh, you wuss,” huffs Katie, “I bet you are _still_ an Arwen shipper.”

The guys start giggling. 

“Um. _No_ ,” Rupert denies haughtily, “I’m a Gweon shipper, I believe it’s called. I ship _myself_ with Guinevere. What?” he defensively returns the looks, “I want to be king after Arthur is gone.”

“Backstabber,” snorts Alex and picks more chips from his vest and pops them into his mouth.

“Um, _excuse me_ \- if there is anyone to talk about _backstabbing, Mordred_ -“

“Hey! It was not from behind!”

“Guys, _guys_ -“ Katie interrupts, “As much as this is interesting, real drama here?” She points to the terrace, “We’ve gotta do something.”

Suddenly all the hands are busy with something. “Nope!”

“Nada.”

“Count me out- I’m scared of Bradley’s bad side,” Tom widens his eyes, “ _Dude_ \- he knocked _me_ over a football! Imagine if he _really_ was angry!”

Katie rolls her eyes, “You are all lame. I’ll call Angel, she’ll understand me.”

McGrath moves to the door where her bag still sits and both Rupert and Tom give Eoin a look.

“What?” Eoin says defensively.

“Are you kidding me?” Tom snorts, “Bradders is gonna kill you man, you are so dead.”

***

“You fucker, I’m gonna kill you!” yells the buzzy voice inside his ear.

Eoin groans at the phone, “Bradley, dear chap, morning to you too.”

“ _What did you tell Katie?!?!_ ”

Eoin blinks blindly at the harsh morning light and knocks over the alarm clock by trying to look at it. “That she is a harpy? It’s all love in Irish.”

“She keeps- she is WEIRD okay. I mean- WEIRDER. She keeps- she keeps sending me all those relationship and self discovery messages with smileys on them and she calls eight times a week to tell me, ‘Oh, hey Bradley-‘” Bradley mimicks a weird, high voice that has nothing to do with Katie’s or any woman’s whatsoever. “ ’Why don’t you call Colin and stuff- why don’t you come to Dublin Bradley, where he films! Why don’t you do this and that-‘ ” 

“ _God_ ,” sighs Eoin loudly through his nose into the phone and buries his head into his soft, plushy pillow.

“Exactly!”

“No- I meant _you_ \- you are truly one messed up motherfucker James.”

“Don’t try to weasel your way out of this. I’ve talked to Hopper first, he said to ask you!”

“That _bastard_ ,” Eoin gritted his teeth, “Is that why you called me at the arse o’clock in the morning? To be a majestic drama queen?”

“You- _YOU!_ ” Bradley’s voice shakes with anger over the phone, “What did _you_ tell Katie?”

“Nothing,” Eoin said quickly, and Bradley huffed. “Seriously mate, nothing. But you know, considering your over the top overreaction, maybe you should stop freaking out a minute and listen to her.”

“She’s trying to do that fandom stuff! With- with me and Colin!”

Eoin sighs and sits up, finally giving up on going back to sleep. “Nevermind her. Did you call Colin since NTAs?”

Bradley pauses. “I did. Maybe. _No._ ” Eoin snorts. “But we had messaged a few!”

Eoin scratches his forehead and sighs, then patiently, “Then perhaps maybe you should consider calling him. You know. As an act of friendship and solidarity.”

“I DO call Colin.” Bradley insists.

“Then maybe you should DO IT MORE,” Eoin yells back at him.

“Fine!”

“ _Fine!_ ”

“FINE.”

Eoin gives up on patience and understanding- Bradley is thick as a brick; he’ll probably appreciate it in the future. “And Katie’s right!”

“What?” Bradley shrieks.

“Look, mate- I shared a house with you- thin walls and all that, there is no need to wobble around, okay? And Colin is a nice chap, just- you know- go for it.”

“ _What?!”_ Bradley’s voice goes even higher into dolphin territory.

“Just don’t do it when I’m at the flat- or, second thought, don’t do it in the house at all-“ 

“You’ve fucking lost your mind! Colin- Colin and I- we’re just friends and all!”

“Yeah, yeah.”

“Screw you, we are!”

“And I’m the one who stayed up that night at six am tweeting the fans how much I fucking loved my boyfriend, yeah.”

“RUPERT TWEETED IT TOO!” 

“Mate, Rupes did not babble until he passed out, okay? You were _way_ wasted. _And_ you told me Col’s lips were all soft and awesome and not girlish at all. Which, I do appreciate the sentiment but is _way_ oversharing.”

“Uh.” 

“Good talk. Now, will you fucking call Colin?”

There is a deadly silence over the other side of the call where Eoin can hear Bradley swallow and whisper, “I’m not even gay.”

Eoin sighs. “Do I have to give you the bees and bananas talk?”

“No! No- bananas. Um. And even if- I was- you know- Colin and I are just friends. Besides, he- he’s way over there. Winning awards and all that. He- he wouldn’t. He wouldn’t hang around shooting shit with m-with us.” 

“Why not?” asks Eoin gently.

“He’s different,” says Bradley automatically. Then pauses. “Oh god, I’m screwed aren’t I.”

***

“You’re not _screwed_ ,” says Katie while stirring her latté, “Well, not _yet_ anyway.”

“You are _horrible_ ,” Bradley tells her. “I ask for help and you scare the fucking shit out of me with _innuendos_.”

Angel pats his hand, “Don’t worry Bradley, I’m sure everything will work out.”

“Just call him, dumbass,” Katie exclaims, “He thinks you’re avoiding him. That’s no excuse.”

“I can’t remember _anything_. I can’t just _call him_ ,” Bradley whines miserably, “What if I said something?”

“Like what?” Angel giggles, “That you _love_ him?”

Katie grins, “Most ardently and vigorously!”

Bradley gets up.

“Oh come on, Bradley-“

“Come on, come back, we’re sorry…”

Bradley sits back down but his hands are shaking. He says nothing, looking nauseous with worry.

“Aw, Bradders, come on. You have nothing to worry about,” Angel gently takes his hand, “It’s real obvious, really.”

“Did Colin tell you something?” Bradley looks both of them. When the girls hesitate, he pales. 

“It’s not what you think,” Katie interrupts, “It’s that he’s not talking to us much. He blames it on working a lot and being tired yeah, but basically, he’s brooding.”

“I’ve also told him to call _you_ ,” Angel adds, “But he thinks he took advantage of you, so yeah.” When Bradley looks bewildered Angel explains, “He kissed you first. Well. According to him, anyway.”

“That’s not what happened!”

“Yeah? Things coming back to you?”

“No! I mean- he did not take advantage of _me_. Look at me! _He’s tiny!_ ”

Katie sighs, “Oh how I wish I’ve had a camera installed there.”

Bradley opens his mouth to ask her if she has _other_ cameras installed anywhere inside his own house but then his phone starts to vibrate and he looks at the screen and with that his _heart_ starts to do the same vibrating dance inside his _stomach_ , _what the hell_ \- it hops and turns around and beats wildly and- 

It’s Colin.

“ _Answer it, you fool!_ ” hisses Katie and slips him the phone.

“Hi, Bradley!” An overly bright voice comes from the other side, then Colin clears his throat, “Um, what’s up?”

“Uh- hi Colin,” Bradley murmurs then looks at the girls, turns his seat towards the street a bit for privacy, “Colin- hi. Um, good, good. Uh- you?”

“Good too,” Colin laughs awkwardly, “Um, I’m in London actually- I have a week until the filming of second unit starts, so. Uh. So maybe we can do something? Like, _maybeadinnerorsomething_.” Colin babbles.

A dinner? _A dinner?!_ Bradley suddenly panicks. “Uh… um.” Katie grins and gives him thumbs up. “I’m sorry,” Bradley suddenly bursts out, “Um- Sorry, gotta- this thing.” __  
  
“Oh,” Colin’s voice lowers down. “Um, okay. Another time perhaps.”

Bradley already started regretting and hating himself. “Yeah, sure,” he murmurs pitifully, “Uh- Colin-“

“Bye, James.” The phone clicks. 

Bradley headdesks. Angel is giving him incredulous looks. 

Katie, on the other hand, kicks his shin with all her might. “You complete buffoon.”

***

Bradley doesn’t call Colin back.

He prefers being miserable instead. Miserable and lonely and in agony. Because he is a complete idiot who turned down a date his mate- his _friend_ asked him to because he has no balls for it. He totally deserves it.

Except that he can’t sleep. At all. For two days. He watched all the crap commercial channels and Brazilian soap operas and he learned more about the megafishes than he ever cared about. He can’t even rewatch his Buffys for comfort because Tony is in it and thinking of Tony makes him mourn his absence. He kinda needs a hug.

Instead, he finds himself watching the Merlin finale at four am in the morning. It’s on a scifi channel reruns and what the hell? Who watches a show at this hour? 

Apparently he does. And sure, he saw the episode before- but he was with tons of people then and he was concerned about how they acted out Arthur’s reaction to Merlin’s magic- and the episode was too intense- 

Now, alone, he watches it. He watches Colin. 

It’s four am, he watches his own show’s reruns and his eyes are all puffy and his face is completely blotched. Oh god, _what is this?_ What did they do to the fans? _On Christmas Eve_ , for fuck’s sake.

His hand goes to phone- he notices too late that it’s _fucking late_ \- the phone rings one time and he is about to hang up-

“Hello?” a croaky voice answers.

“Um.” Bradley has no idea what to say.

“Bradley?” Colin’s voice grows softer, “You okay?”

Bradley clears his throat, “Um, yeah- yeah, no, uh. Sorry. It’s- ”

“It’s okay,” says Colin immediately.

“I’ve um. I’ve been up- and… Merlin was on, uh.”

There is silence over the line for a second. Then Colin says, “Is it bad that I’ve been sobbing over my own show?”

“ _Ohgodmetoo_ ,” bursts out Bradley into blabbers, “This is _horrible_ , how did they allow this to air on _Christmas?_ ”

“I know-” laughs Colin, and he sounds a bit better. “It’s just evil.”

“It’s _terrible_ ,” Bradley hisses, “It’s not even a _happy ending_ \- you still look miserable-” Then Bradley remembers that Arthur and Merlin are not real but Colin very much is, “Sorry. I-” 

“It’s okay,” Colin is smiling a bit, he can tell. He _can tell_. 

Suddenly, he bursts out, “I didn’t mean to kiss you, you know.”

“I know.” The answer is sad but resigned.

“I was drunk. I was way over wasted. I couldn’t even remember it until Eoin told me I was blabbing about it.”

Colin sighs. “It’s okay, Bradley.”

“No- no it’s not. I. I’m not wasted now. And it’s not going away. I still want to. Kiss you.”

“…”

“Colin?” calls out Bradley, worried shitless. 

“You are kinda drunk. Emotionally I mean- You just watched the epic sad story of Merlin and Arthur. You can’t be judged sane. It’s four fucking am, for fuck’s sake,” blabbers Colin and he sounds so Irish it’s not even English anymore.

“Where are you?” Bradley cracks, “Are you. Are you still in London?”

Colin pauses. “I’m. Actually- yeah, not far from you, at the place we saw- _what are you gonna_ -”

“I’m coming to see you. Don’t freak out. Okay, please?”

“Don’t freak out?! _Don’t-_ ” 

“I’ll be there in fifteen minutes.”

Since it’s a fucking cliché, it’s raining like dogs. Bradley wishes he looks like Colin Firth when he is wet, but sadly, he looks more like a drowned rat than a hero of a romantic comedy and he doesn’t even know how he is going to find Colin’s apartment- his memory only serves him so far and then a door opens and he sees a tall, dark head with grey pajamas and ragged shirt and mad, mad dark blue eyes.

“You’re mad,” says Colin breathlessly while pulling him inside, “It’s four am-” 

Bradley kisses him. He doesn’t want to waste any more time. They hit the mantle- where the National Television Best Drama Actor Award still stands with Merlin and Arthur action figures next to it for fuck’s sake, and it’s not even important anymore. Bradley smiles insanely into the kiss and pulls Colin closer. It may not be a happy ending for these two (yet), but it certainly is for him and Colin.

 **♫ LARRY CLINTON & HIS ORCHESTRA & HELEN WARD – HEART AND SOUL** ****

-THE END-


End file.
